Folded bag



April 22, 1952 A. G. F. RAMBOLD 2,593,608

FOLDED BAG Filed July 8, 1948 Patented Apr. 22, 1952 FOLDED BAG Adolf G. F. Rambold, Stuttgart-Feuerbach, Germany, assignor to Teepack Spezialmaschinen G. in. b. H., Viersen/Rhld. (Germany), a company of Germany Application July 8, 1948, Serial No. 37,586

a Ciaims. (01. 99-711) This invention relates to an infusion bag of .the type used for the lixiviation of infusion substances such as, tea, coffee powder, Washing blue and. the like and consisting of a foldable material such as paper, perforated cellophane and the like, which is permeable for water or the respective lixiviating substance.

Itis the object of the present invention to provide an infusion bag which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and efiicient in use.

With this object in view, the infusion bag according to the present invention is produced in such a way, that longitudinal seams of the come partments, connected by an intermediate piece, face each other, and that the cross-folds delimiting the intermediate piece, have such a distance from each other, measured at the straight intermediate piece, that, after the compartments have been filled With the predetermined quantity and the filler substance has swelled in the infusion liquid, the compartments can only move so far apart from each other, that the iongitudinal seams of the compartments will touch another at least along a short extent. This applies as well for the case that the intermediate piece is formed by only two folds as that the intermediate piece is formed by three folds, i. e. presents the form of a fold laying between the two compartments before the bag is in use.

Under this condition, it is possible to use folded bags as infusion bags, the longitudinal base leaf borders of which forming the longitudinal seams of the compartments, are not at partment, may be shorterthan the other one, i. e., with the conventional sizes of such folded bags, by practically about 8 mm., without any changes to the contents of the bag. Since such folded bags are objects of mass production, con- I siderable savings ofmaterials will result.

all connected by any special means, but the longitudinal seams of which are only formed by folding together the borders of the base leaf. In this case, the longitudinal seams facing each other of two adjacent compartments, press at least. along a short extent so much against each other, that the seams cannot open, said pressure being augmented by the pressure arising from the swelling and expansion of the contents of the bag in the boiling infusion liquid.

The cross-folds for forming the intermediate piece connecting two adjacent compartments, are, according to the invention, furthermore arranged in such a way, that, by placing together the open ends of the tube, one end protrudes over the other one by the width of the top closing fold to be made, and, after the compartments have been filled, the corners of the" longer ehd may be bent overthe shorter one, and the remaining point may be laid over the bent corners. Hence it follows, that the one piece of the tube, which corresponds to one-com- Moreover, because of the diverse lengths of the compartments, the closing clip holding the top closing fold in a known manner, does not need to embrace excessive layers of material. Said closing clip is arranged at the place, given by the seam of the tube, with the largest number of piled up layers of material. According to the invention, the closing clip laid around the longitudinal seam of the tube without going through it, that is, without piercing the piled up layers. This mode of arrangement that the closing clip does not pierce the piled up layers, is especially important, if a transparent foil is used for the bag. Transparent foil tears very easily, so that a relatively thick foil has to be used, if the arrangement is not made in such a way, that the closing clip just clasps the thick seam. By this clasping the tearing is prevented L and thereby the use of a thinner transparent foil is made possible. Specific provisions would be necessary, if the closing clip must pierce too many layers. For example, the necessity may arise to drill the holes, which process would complicate the machines by which the folded bags are manufactured, or a, thicker wire would have to be used for the closing clip.

Since by means of the closing clip usually a tie-string or the like is fastened to the folded bag also, the especially advantageous mode of fastening the closing clip results yet in this advantagethat the tie-string cannot tear off, if the folded bag is hung into the boiling infusion liquid and the weight of the contents is increased by the absorption of the infusion liquid. This is especially important in connection with large bags.

The subject of the invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawing.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a sheet of paper from which the bag is folded,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the sheet folded to form a tube,

Fig. 3 is an end View of the folded sheet of Fig. 2, 7

Figs. 4 and 5 are perspective views showing the tube folded into the finished bag inopen position in 4 and in closed position in Fig. 5,

Fig. 6 isa perspective view of the bag of Fig.6 showing a further fold in the intermediate piece.

The borders bl. and In of a base leaf or sheet a, as shown in Fig. l, are laid one upon the other in the longitudinal direction of the tube to be produced in such a way, that the resulting longitudinal seam (1 runs through the middle of the tube 0. Laying the two borders in and be one upon the other, is executed in such a manner, that the one border b1 protrudes over the other border b2 by about the width of the fold to be produced. Thereafter, this protruding part of the border In is folded around the border b2, both are folded together in towards the inside, and the fold is pressed against the tube 0. Consequently, the longitudinal seam, in this case, is formed by the fold. A reinforcement string, a reinforcement wire, or a narrow metal band may be inserted into the fold. The end or the ends of such a reinforcement element are expediently extended beyond the ends of the tube and form a holding member, to the end of which a label, a seal, or the like usually is fastened. In Figures 4 to 6 a reinforcement string e is indicated. For the production of a folded bag in conformity with Fig. 5 the tube conforming to Fig. 2 is folded twice across its longitudinal direction in such a way, that the longitudinal seam d is on the inside of the intermediate form as shown in Fig. 5. From Fig. i it can be seen that the tube 0 is divided into two compartments g1 and g2 by the two fold lines f1 and f2, said compartments, with their longitudinal seams facing each other, being separated by an intermediate piece h, and furthermore that the piece of tube which forms the compartment g2, is to be made shorter than the piece of tube which forms the compartment 91, by about the width of the top closing fold.

Out of the intermediate form conforming to Fig. 4 arises the folded bag as shown in Fig. 5 in a filled condition, by placing together the open ends of the tube 0 in such a way, that the one end protrudes over the other one by the width of the top closing fold to be made, and furthermore, by bending the corners of the longer end over the shorter one, and laying the remaining point over the bent corners.

At this top closing fold i a closing clip k is provided for, to which a holding member, for instance a string e or the like, is fastened, in case the holding member is not formed by the extension of a holding element inserted into the longitudinal seam d. The closing clip is is arranged at the place, given by the longitudinal seam d of the tube, with the largest number of piled up layers of material, explicitly so, that it is laid around the longitudinal seam (1 without piercing the longitudinal seam d itself. By the fact that the longitudinal seam d is not pierced itself by the closing clip is the highest degree of safety against tearing is attained.

The model of the folded bag in conformity with Fig. 6 differs from the model in conformity with Fig. 5 only by the fact, that the intermediate piece It is folded along a further fold line is, so that the intermediate piece It, in a folded condition, may lay between the compartments g1 and With the folded bags conforming to Figures 5 and 6 the intermediate piece h is so proportioned, that the cross-fold lines f1 and f2 delimiting it, have, with the model shown in Fig. 6 measured at the straight intermediate piece, such a distance from each other, that, after the compartments g1 and 92 having been filled with the predetermined quantity of the filler substance, the compartments can only move so far apart from each 4 other, that the longitudinal seams of the compartments g1 and 92 will touch each other at least along a short extent. This proportioning of the intermediate piece it makes at all possible the application of a common fold as a longitudinal seam d for the tube 0, without any special means of connection of the leaf borders in and b2.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a tea bag comprising a tube formed of a substantially rectangular sheet of material that is pervious to water, said sheet being formed into a tube by folding together its opposite side edges to form a flat unsealed multiple fold, said tube being folded into a substantially U-shaped bag with the multiple fold centrally located inside the U, said bag thus comprising two approximately parallel compartments forming the side legs of the U and containing a pre-determined quantity of tea and an intermediate portion connecting the compartments at one end thereof, the other ends of said compartments being provided with a closing fold and a clip passing through the closing fold to secure said other ends together and thereby close the compartments, said intermediate portion being normally collapsed to bring the multiple fold portions of said compartments into substantially abutting relation, but being expandable to permit said compartments to move apart upon infusion of the tea therein, the length of said intermediate portion being approximately equal to the eX- panded width of one of said compartments where-.- by during infusion of the bag with hot water expansion of the tea within the compartments causes the multiple fold portions of the compartments to be pressed together to prevent opening of said tube.

2. As an article of manufacture a tea bag comprising a tube formed of a substantially rectangular sheet of material that is pervious to water, said sheet being formed into a tube by folding together its opposite side edges to form a flat unsealed multiple fold, said tube being folded into a substantially U-shaped bag with a multiple fold centrally located inside the U, said bag thus comprising two approximately parallel compartments forming the side legs of the U and containing a pre-determined quantity of tea and an intermediate portion connecting the compartments at one end thereof, the other ends of said compartments being provided with a closing fold and a clip passing through the closing fold to secure said other ends together and thereby close the compartments, said clip being positioned to embrace said flat unsealed multiple fold at the said closing fold, said intermediate portion being provided with a central fold extending inwardly between said compartments to bring the multiple fold portions of said compartments into substantially abutting relation, but being expansible to permit said compartments to move apart upon infusion of the tea therein, the length of said intermediate portion being approximately equal to the expanded width of one of said compartments whereby during infusion of the bag with hot water, expansion of the tea within the compartments causes the multiple fold portions of the compartments to be pressed together to prevent opening of said multiple fold.

3. An article of manufacture according to claim 2 and wherein one side leg of said U-s-haped bag is longer than the other side leg and the end por ADOLF G. F. RAMBOLD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Re. 22,490

Name Date Rambold May 30, 1944 Number 6 Name Date Blum June 6, 1933 Sodergren Oct. 11, 1935 Cross Jan. 10, 1939 Hirschhorn Aug. 4, 1942 Irmscher Aug. 31, 1943 Howard Dec. 12, 1944 Campagnano Mar. 4, 1947 

